SEVENTEEN years after his peers, Jack Gunston is finally set to represent his home state for the first time.

A self-described "late bloomer", the Hawthorn sharpshooter was overlooked for Vic Metro selection in the 2009 under-18 championships, with a dislocated elbow earlier in the year also hindering matters.

He wasn't picked for the Victorian side that took on the All-Stars for the 2020 Bushfire Relief charity game.

But on Saturday, the 34-year-old triple-premiership player and dual best and fairest will finally tick the 'Big V' off his footy bucket list in AAMI AFL Origin.

"It's great that the concept's back, and there's a lot of buy-in, a lot of excitement from the whole Victorian squad," Gunston told AFL.com.au.

"For me, it's a little bit surreal. I've never been able to pull on a Victorian jumper, even in the under-18s, and you want to do that to give yourself a chance to be drafted. It's going to be good fun, and something I'll cherish.

"It's my 17th year now, and there's been a lot of mock teams over the years, and sometimes I'm in them, and sometimes I'm not, and having no game, it was unfortunate.

"You watch the rugby league, and you wish we had a game, because you'd love to represent Victoria."

Gunston has fond memories of watching the last full-blown Origin match held in 1999 at the MCG when he was just six years old. Brent Harvey was named best afield, while the generation-bridging team had players such as Stephen Silvagni, Nathan Burke, Garry Hocking, Matthew Lloyd, Justin Leppitsch and Nigel Lappin.

As the veterans of this current iteration of the team, Gunston agreed with Patrick Dangerfield's comment at a recent press conference that the two would be fighting for a bench spot, and then he went a step further.

"I reckon we'll be fighting for the goalsquare as well as the bench, throw in 'Darc' (Sam Darcy) as well. One of us is going to have to squeeze up," Gunston said, mock-ruefully.

"And I don't know who gets to pull rank, but I feel like I'll be the one pushing up the ground. I think Dangerfield's got more runs on the board than me, so he'll push me out."

The resurgence of Gunston was one of the more remarkable stories of the 2025 season, finding yet another vein of form to be named All-Australian while winning Hawthorn's best and fairest after booting 73 goals. The year prior, he'd managed just 29.

All the while, he has been mentoring and coaching the club's young AFL and AFLW forwards.

"I'm just riding the rollercoaster of an AFL career. I've had some great ups early on, some downs and sometimes when I haven't been able to perform at my best," Gunston said.

"It was really rewarding and pleasing that I was able to do what I did last season, and I'm just in the space of, 'who knows what this year will hold'. Really, I'm excited by it, nervous, just like anyone else during pre-season.

"I want to keep evolving as a player, but also helping and developing a lot of the younger guys here. We've got quite a few new young forwards, and I really enjoy the coaching side of pre-season, and seeing them develop and shine is quite rewarding for myself in the later part of my career.

"[Coaching] is definitely an option, but I'm keeping a lot of things open post-footy. It's a big wide world out there. There's a lot to see and try to achieve.

"I think a couple of years ago, I was looking pretty quick around the corner (to retirement). So hopefully, I can keep going as long as I can."